SOU men top 100 points in Flagship blowout

Saturday

Nov 24, 2012 at 12:01 AM

The 23rd-ranked Southern Oregon men's basketball team reached triple figures for the first time in 10 years and finished with its most points in almost 20 years, pulling away for a 110-80 victory over New Hope Christian Friday night at the Flagship Inn Classic at Bob Riehm Arena.

The 23rd-ranked Southern Oregon men's basketball team reached triple figures for the first time in 10 years and finished with its most points in almost 20 years, pulling away for a 110-80 victory over New Hope Christian Friday night at the Flagship Inn Classic at Bob Riehm Arena.

Southern Oregon improved to 6-2 with its fourth consecutive win, while New Hope Christian fell to 5-7 with the loss. The Raiders return to action Saturday night, taking on undefeated NAIA Division I Lewis-Clark State at 7:30 p.m.

The Raiders reached 100 points for the first time since the 2001-02 season, when they knocked off Albertson, now College of Idaho, 103-101 on the road in double overtime. Southern Oregon's 110 points marked the highest single-game total since the 1994-95 season, when SOU blew out Warner Pacific 114-65.

David Sturner led SOU with 20 points and eight rebounds, connecting on eight of 12 shot attempts in the game. Eric Thompson added 19 points and six rebounds, while Jacob Kaler made 5 of 7 shots to total 15 points in only 13 minutes of court time. Jordan West added 11 points and Joel Spear tallied nine assists in the win. As a team, Southern Oregon shot 53.2 percent (41-of-77), including 48 percent from 3-point range (12-of-25), and the Raiders made 16 of 19 free throw attempts.

Drew Wiley led New Hope Christian with 23 points, while Harley Turner finished with 20 and Tarance Glyn posted a double-double with 13 points and 10 rebounds. Austin Candoza tallied 10 points for the Deacons.

The Raiders forced 16 New Hope turnovers while turning the ball over only seven times in the game.

The Raiders built their largest lead of the first half midway through the opening period when Sturner made back-to-back layups to put SOU up 33-12. Three consecutive 3-pointers helped the Warriors use an 11-point streak to pull back to within 10, but the Raiders never let them any closer and closed the half on an 11-2 run to take a 50-31 lead into the break.Southern Oregon pretty much put the game away in the opening minutes of the second half, as back-to-back 3's by Thompson and Sturner helped put the Raiders up by 29 points at 66-37 with 16:24 to play.